


We Three Not a Crowd

by Menirva



Series: Find A New Home [3]
Category: The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Daddy Kink, F/M, Fluff and Smut, M/M, Multi, Open Relationships, Threesome - F/M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-07
Updated: 2019-04-07
Packaged: 2020-01-05 23:51:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18376634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Menirva/pseuds/Menirva
Summary: The boys are back in town. Frank is excited. Maria is excited. The kids are excited. Billy is nervous. He'll come around.





	We Three Not a Crowd

_Frank,_

_I picked out a new cellphone today. I decided it was my prize for being right. I'll think of a few others for when you get home safely. Bring him with you, of course. I'll let the kids know. They have a calendar up, now. We're all marking down the days, mister._

 

Frank read the letter three more times before he finally folded it back up and kissed it, tucking it protectively into his shirt pocket.

 

“You're gonna wear a damn hole in that thing, you know?” Billy shook his head. His kit was already rolled up and packed on the cot. His tone was casual, but his jaw was tense. He'd tried to un-invite himself about half a dozen times, making excuses. Frank wasn't about to buy into any of that bullshit, though. He knew Billy would have spent his leave in some random hotel, eating fast food and at the bar. He had better things in mind. Frank wasn't about to let the bravest man he knew be nervous.

 

They'd been 'hot and heavy' for weeks, now. Since the hotel room, they'd given up the pretense of tiptoeing around each other. They'd fucked whenever they had a damn moment of privacy, and even a few moments when they damn well knew they shouldn't have. It had been good as hell for both of them, and if he was honest, Frank was hoping it'd continue on their leave. He'd meant what he'd first said to Billy. Maria _did_ like to watch, but he wasn't gonna push anything. He didn't take for granted the things Billy gave him, and he didn't underestimate how hard it was for him to relax and let go with him. If it happened, great, but the important thing was to have all of his family back together under his roof. He ignored Billy's jab, low hanging fruit. He always kept Maria's latest letter in his pocket, needed it there. If anything happened to him, he wanted her with him in the end.

 

He leaned over and gave Billy's knee a reassuring squeeze. “Come on, we've got a plane to catch, huh?”

 

—

 

Billy hated flying, not the actual air travel itself, just the fucking crowded-in tinned can feeling. If he wanted to feel trapped in a metal box, he'd have joined the navy. This was a bad idea all around. He'd almost skipped out on his leave altogether. His commanding officers sure hadn't wanted him to take it. Now that he was in their pocket, they were using more, relying on him more for their black market shit. God, he hated that, but when you were in the hole you were in the damn hole, and he knew there was no digging himself back out.

 

Here they were, though, weeks away from all of this shit, and Billy couldn't figure out if this was gonna be great or terrible. He hadn't forgotten what Frank had told him. That Maria liked to watch him, and he didn't think that'd been a lie. Frank didn't seem like the type to lie about that. But watching your man fuck someone as a one night stand was one thing... Billy was a jaded cynic, but even he knew what he had with Frank was more than that. In the desert, it was easy to just live in that, like a fever dream, but the waking world was a cold dose of reality. Billy didn't see Maria wanting him around when she realized he _loved_ Frank.

 

Which presented a problem, because for so long Maria and the kids had been the closest thing he'd had to a family since... Who was he even kidding? They were the only thing he'd ever had resembling a family. He still remembered getting the news about Maria being pregnant with Frank Jr., and feeling like it was him having a damn kid. He went to their stupid plays and clubs and outings when he was in town, and he loved every dumb minute of it. He loved the macaroni necklace Lisa had made him, and the duct tape wallet Frankie Jr. had given him on his birthday, even though his money stuck to it half the time.

 

How was he supposed to reconcile all of that with how he felt about Frank now? He felt like one wrong step and he was going to fucking lose _all of it_. He couldn't. He couldn't let that happen.

 

He glanced over at Frank, Frank who was out cold, half-drank foam cup of tepid, burnt coffee balanced on his tray. Frank with his cupid bow pink lips parted slightly. Anyone else would be snoring, hell, he sure would be, but Frank had always been a quiet sleeper, so Billy just watched him. He thought about leaning in, kissing him, but not here. Too many witnesses, especially in their Class B uniforms.

 

As nervous as he was going home, he craved the anonymity it provided. He loved spending time with Maria and the kids, but he was also thinking about the possibility of going out with just Frank for a little while, drinking in some dive bar, maybe keeping his hand on him on the walk home when they were both drunk off their asses. What the hell had Frank done to him that that's where his mind went now, instead of fucking the first good pair of legs he saw? He'd god damn wrecked him, and he was sure if he complained to the man, he'd just grin at him.

 

He thought briefly about smothering Frank to death with his shitty travel pillow, but he turned in his seat a little, instead, wishing the damn things clicked back just a little further so he didn't feel like his legs were folded in half to fit him. First thing he'd do when he made it big? First class anywhere he needed to damn fly.

 

Billy watched Frank turning down the _third_ bunch of peonies from the vender and had to laugh. Too purple this time. The vendor was only being respectful about it because of the uniform and the repeat business whenever Frank came home, and they both knew it. Frank had the same ritual whenever he came home. It didn't matter how many times this happened, Frank got a little jittery the closer he got to home, like he was some new suitor in Maria's life and this bouquet was going to make or break it all. Everyone standing there knew Frank wasn't leaving that stall until he found the perfect arrangement.

 

“Come on, the white ones with the pink on the ends, you had them last time, Michael.”  
  
“Frank, you're killing me, for the hundredth time, they're out of season,” the florist lamented. and Billy bit the inside of his cheek to suppress a laugh. He poked around a little at the buckets and pointed to some in the back.  
  
“Come on, Frankie, you're killing all of us, what about these coral ones? You know she'll like those.”

 

Frank stepped closer, the back of his hand brushing against Billy's hip as he looked past him. He scrutinized where Billy had pointed, clearly mulling over the idea carefully before his lips parted into a warm smile. “Yeah, those are perfect, thanks, Bill.” He breathed the words against Billy's ear like it was some great secret between them, and Billy felt the shell of his ear burning.

 

“Don't mention it.” He grinned a little. Frank's excitement was contagious. “Now pay the man before he buries us in his compost bin.” He shoved his elbow into Frank's side, laughing and spinning on the heel of his shoe so he could hail them a cab. Maria had offered to pick them up, but Frank always turned the offer down. Billy never asked, but he suspected it was so that the man could slowly unravel himself, dip back into the life that he had here with his family. Billy could appreciate the process.

 

—

 

“Mom, come on, when?” Frankie Jr. was pulling at her sleeve, a practiced whine in his voice. The motion was something he was really too old for, but that always seemed to happen when Frank came home. Both of their children seemed younger. She would never go so far as to say they _behaved better_ , god forbid, but the world felt a little different. It would for the entire time he was home, like a breeze of fresh air blowing over them that they could all breathe in together.

 

It was hard when he wasn't home. It wasn't that they weren't self-reliant. They always had been, Maria had known exactly what she'd married into. There was always the feeling of a missing piece, though, and it made those times they were together all the more important. She felt that, and she knew from everything they'd shared that Frank felt that, too. Her fingers slipped absently to the pocket in her cardigan, crinkling against the last letter Frank had sent her. The wear lines in it were as fine as cloth from her constant unfolding and folding. She knew Frank's would be the same when he slipped it out of his pocket, tonight. They'd set them together on the bedside table when they lay down together tonight, and neither would talk about them. Some rituals meant everything.

 

“He'll be home, soon, baby,” she murmured with an absent pat to his hand. “Did you put the extra blankets on the couch for Uncle Bill?”

 

“Yeah!” The sudden reminder seemed to quell his impatience. “He can have Lisa's bed, you know?” he said with false innocence.

 

“Yeah right, he should go in your room, since you both _snore_ ,” Lisa called from the kitchen, and Maria held back an inner groan when she heard her going for the apple juice. Maybe they should just buy an orchard, or stock in Mott's. She'd ask Frank to run to the corner store and get juice, later. He'd like that, he liked all of those simple things he'd missed, diaper runs, grabbing juice, the little things.

 

She ignored their bickering over who was grosser when they slept, over who was the drooler and who was the snorer, and who was more likely to still be wetting the bed. She'd heard every iteration of this before, and there was absolutely no point in intervening at this point until it turned into hair pulling and shoving, but it rarely did. Not never, but rarely.

 

Maria looked over at the couch to see the neat pile of blankets and fresh sheets she'd laid down there. She thought again that they should really get a pullout bed, but Billy would demure that he didn't need them to do that just for him, and it would be just for him. Frank had never extended the invitation to his inner sanctum to anyone the way he had to Billy. Well. Maybe he wouldn't need the couch at all, anyway.

 

She wouldn't assume, though. Billy had certainly never been _shy_ around them, but this was a completely different situation. They'd always had their fun. They'd realized early on that both of them were sexual creatures, and if they were going to be apart for months at a time then monogamy was a dangerous game they were both likely to lose. It wasn't fair to stack the cards against themselves.

 

There were simple rules. Maria knew to keep it out of the house and away from the kids, Frank knew to be careful and that she preferred he stick with men. It made things simpler, and there wasn't any risk of _surprises_. Lisa had been a happy accident after all, and someone else with Frank's baby was something she wasn't willing to share.

 

They hadn't had a threesome in ages, not since before Frank Jr. was walking, but Frank had been happy to take some pictures, a few videos of him when it was a man he knew she'd like to see. She'd done the same, on occasion. It was a game that kept things open and fun. They both liked it.

 

Billy was different, she'd known that when she’d first seen how Frank was starting to look at him. It had been a simple moment, them at the zoo, the kids’ coats lightly dusted in snowflakes. Billy had been goofing off for the kids, half stretched over the railing to try and feed one of the sheep in the petting zoo enclosure and Frank had needed to quick yank on the back of his collar to keep him from falling headfirst into a water trough.

 

Maria had watched them both laughing and she'd seen it in Frank's eyes then. She knew her man better than he knew himself, sometimes. There were looks he gave when he wanted to fuck, and there were looks he gave when he was falling in love. She had smiled at them both when they had walked back over to her. Her hand had touched the back of Billy's wrist, and Frank had been happy to lift junior up into his arms to carry as they’d walked. She had wondered if maybe they’d all known it then, but men were just a bit dumb, sometimes. She hadn't minded. They'd catch up eventually.

 

When it had finally happened, Maria had been tempted to request video of Billy. She had spent more than a little time during her nights alone picturing just how they might slot together. But it was just like Frank had mentioned in his letter. They both knew it would be sweeter in person, whether it was him whispering a play by play in her ear while he warmed her body up with those hands she always missed, or Frank showing her on Billy exactly what he liked done to him.

 

She saw a flash of yellow coming down the drive, and felt her heart skip a beat. “Kids!”

 

—

 

Frank could hear the commotion before he was even to the door. It had him grinning, had the corners of his eyes feeling wet. One day, he'd get through their reunions without the waterworks, but when the door opened and he saw the kids running towards him, he knew that today was not the damn day. He felt both of his babies crash into him, stronger than ever. One day, they'd barrel him over. For now he groaned, lifting them off of their feet and into his arms, laughing with them and kissing their cheeks, steadfastly ignoring any protest.

 

“You guys always look like a damn hallmark moment,” Billy said behind him, and he could see Maria out of the corner of his eye walking over to pull Billy into her arms.

 

“Aw, Billy.” She smiled and squeezed him close. “Don't worry. We'll just be over here together until he wises up.”

 

“Maria, you are, as always, too smart and too beautiful for him. I'm telling you. Just say the word. I would be a better father for the children... hey, hey!” He started to wheeze out a laugh when her powerful elbow caught his ribs. “Ok, ok, I surrender. Frank, she's all yours. She's too wild for me. No couth, I can see why you're together. Just plain feral.”

 

Frank was laughing listening to them, Maria's reply lost over the million questions the kids were asking. That could wait a moment, though. He knelt back down and picked up the bouquet he'd let rest on his suitcase.

 

“Those for me?” Maria asked like she did every time, her hand making the paper wrapped around the flowers crinkle softly. Her hand traveled further to his wrist, slipping under his cuff to touch his bare skin, just over his pulse point. “This for me?” she asked softly, and they shared a million words in a single look.

 

“If you'll have them. If you'll have me.”

 

Maria smiled at him, and her arms felt stronger than his would ever be when she wrapped around him. He caught her up, grateful when Billy took the flowers so he had his hands free to hold her.

 

“You'll do.”

 

Frank laughed, resting his head against her shoulder and breathing in, letting the knitted fabric there wick away the dampness on his cheeks.

 

—

 

Billy was stretched out on the couch in a food coma. After the waterworks, the kids had gotten their hugs in with him. He'd 'tipped' them in the chocolate bars he'd picked up from the airport gift shop to drag his luggage inside, and then he'd raced to the shower while Maria had distracted Frank from it with a kiss. When he'd been caught, he just grinned at Frank's pounding on the door and turned the water on hotter.

 

Now, Maria's early dinner had conquered him. There had been a whole damn turkey waiting for them inside. Slow roasted in the oven all morning, huge bowl of mashed potatoes, ears of corn piled high on a plate. Absolutely nothing from a powder or can, real butter. Billy coulda cried at the spread. His damn mouth had watered like they hadn't been fed right since they last left for their tour. It wasn't such a far off truth.

 

Comfortable lounge clothes, full stomach, clean skin. The couch was always a little short for his legs, but still, he could have knocked out right then. He probably would have, if Lisa hadn't begged him to play video games with her. He'd never been much of a gamer, but her wish was his command.

 

“Jesus, how many video game consoles are they going to come out with every year?” Billy muttered while Lisa patiently explained to him what each button did. Again. He ran through a few puzzles with her while Frank Jr. 'helpfully' offered such pearls of wisdom as 'try not to fall down that—nevermind' and 'hey, you died, again.'”

 

He shot a few glances over to Frank and Maria, still in the kitchen. Frank was doing the dishes, elbows deep in sudsy water. Maria was alternating between packing up leftovers and leaning into his space, hovering close to kiss his cheek or whisper something in his ear. The usual. This time, he wondered what they were whispering about, especially when they both had glanced over a few times. At him? At the kids? Billy wasn't one to feel self-conscious, but this was pushing his limits.

 

“Uncle Billy.” Lisa's voice, sounding ever patient, but more than a little pained at watching his continuous on screen deaths. “Maybe we should play something else...”

 

“Sure thing, darling,” he agreed readily. “Go grab the deck of cards out of my bag, and I'll teach you two how to cheat at poker. Clean out your school friends.”

 

—

 

“Alright kids.” Maria had gone to put in a load of laundry, an ever losing battle with two kids, and Frank stood over them where they were seated on the floor, crossed legged from their uncle Billy, _way_ too interested in all of the dirty card tricks he was teaching them. “Mom told me you're both due for your sleepover at your grandmother’s... And I don't want you remembering _anything_ Billy just taught you.” He gave Billy a disapproving look, snorting when the man just grinned up at him. Not a lick of shame. He loved that about him, just not when it came to teaching his kids certain things.

 

“Aw, man. How come we always sleepover grandma's when you come home?” Junior whined, and Frank had to bite the inside of his cheek when Billy whined with him.

 

“Aw, yeah, come on, dad, how come?” Billy echoed him, and Frank had no doubt the man knew _damn_ well why the kids more often than not ended up at Maria's mother’s. He loved his kids to the ends of the earth, but after months away, he _needed_ some alone time with his wife.

 

“Are you guys gonna kiss _again_?” Junior looked up at him warily as he scooped up the cards.

 

“Definitely,” Frank snorted, only laughing harder at Junior's quiet, disgusted 'ew'.

 

“Hey, give me the keys and I'll drive them,” Billy offered, standing up and brushing his pants off a little.

 

“You don't have to do that.” Frank shook his head.

 

“Nah, come on, I want to. Give me some more time with them. You're so stingy.” Billy goaded him until Frank finally got him the car keys. Frank watched the kids chorus out goodbyes to him and Maria down the hall and then run out to the car, backpacks in tow.

 

Handing Billy the car keys was as good a time as any to touch him. He held his wrist for a second. He could feel Billy go still. The entire time in the house, Frank had noticed he'd seemed twitchy, almost imperceptible if you didn't know to look for it. But now there was a moment of just them, and Frank felt like the tension was easing out of him from that simple touch. He squeezed Billy's hand and shot him a little smile.

 

“Come find us when you get home, huh?” Frank finally said before letting go.

 

Maria was already sitting on the bed when he made his way back to the bedroom. He slipped her letter out of his pocket and set it on the nightstand over his while he admired her, dressed in a nightgown and rubbing lotion briskly up her hands to her elbows.

 

“Sexy.” Frank grinned at her a little, admiring the way her slip rose above her knees.

 

“Frank, baby, it's Jergens. It's not supposed to be sexy.” Maria shook her head and he smiled with her, walking over to the bed and taking her hands. He drew them up to kiss her wrists. “I don’t know, it’s doing it for me…”

 

“Big surprise, mister.” She gasped suddenly when his hand was on her waist, the other gripping under her thigh, and he was hauling her up, up, up. She hooked her knees over his thighs and held on tight. He laughed when she swatted a hand against his chest playfully. Her cheeks were flushed, and he knew without feeling that she’d be wet. She’d always loved when he lifted her up.

 

“You don’t want to wait?” Maria whispered, giving up her pretense and holding onto his shoulders as she kissed him.

 

“Baby, I _can’t_ , I can’t wait one more minute to have you.” Frank could hear the longing in his own voice, and he didn’t even try to hide it. He’d been thinking about her all day. “Give me at least a taste. I’m a dying man…”

-

Maria hummed softly and kissed him again. “Maybe just a taste,” she whispered playfully as she nibbled on his bottom lip. “Come on, put me down.” She had to coax or she knew Frank, she’d be against the wall in a minute and he’d be inside of her and they’d lose _all focus_. Not that that was usually a bad thing when it happened, but it shouldn’t happen tonight.

 

She lay back on the bed, her toes dangling off the edge and Frank crawling up over her. She laughed and rubbed at the patch of fuzz covering the back of his head, well acquainted with the low, rough rumble in his chest as his nose tucked between the edges of her robe, determined to get to her chest and bare skin.

 

“God you smell so _good._ ” Frank’s warm breath fanned over her, and she curled her fingers into his shoulders as he nuzzled between her breasts, as he just breathed in and savored the contact.

 

“Mm—tell me how,” Maria whispered as she ran her nails slowly down the back of his neck.

 

“Nothing like the desert, nothing like the sand,” Frank murmured. Nothing like blood. Nothing like death. Frank wasn’t the only one who could hear what wasn’t being said. They’d shared too much together, lived too much together for her not to understand. She knew. She knew the things her husband did, and the life that he lived when they were apart. She never expected a clean break just because he was home in her bed.

 

“Was it hard this time?” she asked, fingers pressing into his shoulders. There were knots there that would only work free from a night of sleeping on a good mattress, but she could tell from his quiet groan of enjoyment that the effort was still appreciated.

 

“Some of it,” Frank answered, and that was enough of an answer.

 

“Did he help?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I’m glad you had each other, then,” Maria whispered, leaning down so she could kiss the top of his head as she cradled him to her. “I’m always happy to know you’re both out there watching each other’s back.”

 

“I know.” She felt his lips curling up into a smile on her skin and she smiled in return.

 

“Was it good for you both?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah. What we both needed.”

 

—

 

Billy took his time on the drive back. He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel, trying not to let his mind run away with him on what he might be coming back _to_. He snorted to himself. They were probably screwing like rabbits the second he’d closed the front door. Billy couldn’t blame them, but he wasn’t sure how he felt about coming back to them being in the middle of that. Maria might like to watch, but he doubted that extended to Frank letting anyone near Maria.

 

And Billy had no idea how he felt about being watched. No, he knew, if it were anyone else, if anyone else saw what Frank could do to him… He just hadn’t been quite able to piece together for himself if Maria watching was better or worse than a stranger doing it. By the time he’d pulled into the driveway, he’d decided it was worse.

 

Whatever version of love he was able to give Frank, it extended to his family, to her, to the kids. He was mostly sure of that. They were an all in one deal, Frank was so much a part of them and vice versa that it was impossible to separate those feelings. It sure would have been easier, though. He was used to being selfish, and god damn did he want to be selfish right now. It meant he might not be sitting in the driveway scared shitless about letting not one but _two_ people who he was pretty certain he loved and who loved him in return watch him fall apart.

 

He let himself back into the house and locked up behind himself even if at this point someone breaking in would almost be funny with two marines inside. No reason to risk it and interrupt their fun.

 

“Honey, I’m home!” he called out with a falsetto tone, twirling the car keys on his finger before he hooked them up on the little key rack in the hall. The light was on under their bedroom door, big surprise, and he could hear movement. No moaning, so maybe they were taking a break?

 

Frank opened the door a second later, dressed only in a pair of boxer briefs. His face was flushed pink. Billy didn’t miss the shine on his lips and smear of slickness on his chin. He definitely wasn’t the least bit surprised that one of Frank’s first actions on home soil was to eat out his wife. He’d known every time Frank had touched his tongue to him that it was a craft that he’d spent years honing. He supposed he should be thanking Maria for being such a thorough instructor.

 

“Hey.” Frank hung around the doorframe for a second, looking at Billy before he opened the door more. He stopped him at the threshold, and Billy closed his eyes, almost hating how easy it was to relax when he felt Frank’s wide hands cupping his cheeks. He sighed into the kiss he was given. Billy could taste what could only be Maria on Frank’s lips, and if the man had wanted to make him jealous of them both, then mission fucking accomplished.

 

“Come on, come to bed,” Frank murmured between kisses that felt greedy. Billy’s teeth caught against his bottom lip in turn, sucking the taste off him, tracing his tongue over the cupid bow that was Frank’s pink mouth. “Come on,” Frank continued to coax. “Daddy wants you so damn bad.”

 

If Billy was expecting those words not to affect him just because he could feel Maria’s eyes on him from her place on the bed, then he was dead wrong. They twisted warmly in his gut, and his grip on Frank turned desperate. So much of their early times had been Frank laying him down, Frank teaching Billy how to be cared for and loved and cherished.

 

Billy had been learning, though. Now, he knew how to touch Frank. He knew how to love the man in front of him back without feeling like he was going to die if he didn’t dig his claws into Frank to rip his chest open and bathe in his affection. He was still feral, something wild, and they knew that. There was no mistaking Billy’s eyes for something tame, but he knew how to reflect the reverence the man had showed with each caress down his body, and he could turn it back. He _craved_ being able to show Frank his love back. There was nothing more dangerous, nothing more addictive for Billy than to be able to prove he could feel things, too.

 

“Take me to bed, Frankie,” Billy whispered into his lips. He’d bitten down on Frank’s mouth too hard, and he could taste a tinge of copper. It wasn’t the first time, and it wouldn’t be the last, but he bathed his tongue over the little nick in a wordless apology for never quite being able to reign himself in. He never seemed to scare Frank off, though. Frankie had been the one pursuing, and maybe he was just too stubborn to admit that Billy hadn’t been quite what he’d expected, what he’d wanted, or maybe he’d known all along. Billy wouldn’t ask. He’d never ask a question he couldn’t take the answer to.

 

Their bed felt good, better than the couch, and Billy stretched out on it lazily. He tipped his head back to see Maria smiling at him.

 

“Ma’am,” he greeted, cracking a shining grin at her and giving his best salute.

 

“Billy.” She shook her head, long brown hair framing her face as she smiled down at him. “Am I too close?”

 

“Nah.” He rolled his shoulders a little, determined not to let her proximity be an issue. He didn’t let himself focus on how nice she smelled, or the little brush of her hair over his shoulder as she shifted beside him, laid out to watch comfortably.

 

“Ok. Let me know if I am,” Maria said simply, and she leaned forward to give his cheek a familiar peck that felt wildly out of place in this context. He just nodded and didn’t let himself dwell on it. Nothing was going to put a damper on how good it was going to feel to get fucked on a real bed again.

 

“I’m good so long as your man has some real lube around here. I’m tired of coconut oil.”

 

“Don’t worry about that,” Frank promised. “I’ve got us fixed up.” He climbed onto the bed beside them, and it was a good thing they had a king size, or three was going to be a crowd. Billy felt the slight impact of a bottle falling beside his elbow, and he knew Frank had likely asked Maria to pick up something so he could fuck Billy properly.

 

Billy bit the inside of his cheek a little and leaned up so that he could peel his shirt up and off. Too much clothing. Maria in a robe and Frank in his underwear? He wasn’t about to stand being the most dressed person in the room. His hands went for his pants, and he wasn’t surprised when Frank knocked them away. He did like to handle that part. He encouraged Billy to lift, and he peeled them down.

 

“Look at you, baby boy,” Frank murmured when he kissed over his throat and chest. He lovingly stroked his slicked fingers over Billy’s hole, always acting like he was somehow seeing and touching Billy’s bare body for the first time. Did he treat Maria like that, too? He pushed away the thought and let himself ride the waves of pleasure Frank was treating him to. He couldn’t keep comparing, or this would never happen. He hummed a little instead, let himself preen under Frank’s affections. Let his long, bare legs spread more, and his thighs bracket around Frank comfortably. He held on tight and kissed him as he opened him up.

 

“Just as nice as I thought it would be.” Maria’s voice drifted between them, and it actually made Billy smile a little. She sounded like she was enjoying herself, and if she could see them now… if she was ok with how reverently Frank was touching him… Maybe she knew more than he thought she did, and maybe that was ok.

 

It was ok that she was there when Frank was pushing himself inside of him. Billy had a long leg thrown over his shoulder, and he let his eyes drift shut, let himself be bent in half and fucked into. Each of Frank’s strokes felt so good. He rocked into him with long pushes that sounded wet from too much lube. He’d been overzealous with it, but it was fine. It just made them sound filthy. The noise hit his ears and it was almost loud enough for him to ignore all of his own noises, the little cries Frank pushed out of him so easily.

 

Frank fucked into him until the whine in Billy's throat was loud and desperate. If felt like barely any time had passed, but he already couldn’t take much more. Frank always ended up being too much in all of the best ways.

 

“Are you close, Billy baby?” Frank’s words were barely more than a low rumble in his chest, and Billy nodded, eyes shut tight.

 

“Frankie, Frankie, come on—” Billy gasped out, and Frank let his leg drop, slowing down to just hold his hips, fucking up and deep, each stroke too slow. Too full.

 

“Ok, tell me where, tell me, look at me, let me see you,” Frank encouraged, and he studied the pleasure on Billy’s face when he forced his eyes open. His lips parted and he was about to speak until Frank pushed again and he saw fucking stars.

 

“There, _please_!” he choked out, and knew it was so close to begging just as much as he knew he didn’t fucking care as long as Frank kept going.

 

“Ok, ok,” Frank whispered against his ear. “Let’s get you coming for daddy.” He pushed again and stayed right where Billy needed him, little jolts of his hips that kept him so deep, too deep, just holding himself there, fucking over his prostate until Billy was beside himself, the sweetest agony he could ever feel. Until he was shouting hoarsely and shaking apart, his body’s vise grip taking Frank with him.

 

Billy reached to grab onto the nearest hand available and squeezed tight, riding out both of their orgasms. Frank sounded so good moaning, felt so good when he kissed over his collarbone as they both cooled down. It took him longer than it should have, took feeling both of Frank’s hands rubbing his hips, to realize that it was Maria’s hand he was holding.

 

“Oh, Hey… Sorry.” Billy smiled weakly and jumped a little, squeezing more when he felt Frank sliding out of him, too over sensitive.

 

“You don’t have to apologize. Thank _you_.” She smiled at him.

 

“Oh I aim to please,” Billy said, words coming out shakier than he’d hoped for.

 

Maria laughed and seemed to see right through him. She lay beside them, and Frank cleaned up while Billy caught his breath. He didn’t let go of Maria’s hand, but that was her fault, because she hadn’t asked for it back.

 

He let himself relax a little more. It was going ok. Billy was feeling good and fucked out and definitely considering round two if they weren’t going to kick him off to the couch just yet. He was doing ok. Right up until Maria’s other hand was on his cheek, up until she was leaning in close. She had to be going for another peck on the cheek, and for a fleeting moment Billy had leaned up towards her, lips almost touching, like he’d lost his mind and might actually be able to kiss her. Like she wasn’t the most sacred thing in Frank’s life and here he was having the nerve to try and taint that.

 

He jerked back and bolted up and out of the bed, leaving a trail of confusion in his wake as he worked to catch his breath. He waved them off, trying to keep the panic out of his tone and forcing a smile. “Just… Just need a minute. Need to catch some air. You two crazy kids have fun,” he joked weakly as he grabbed his pants, hightailed it out of the bedroom, and just barely didn’t slam the bedroom door behind him.

 

Billy pulled his pants on in the hall, and walked straight into the kitchen, feeling like he’d run a marathon. He opened the freezer door, resting his head against the cool plastic and squishing what was probably a bag of frozen peas. Jesus, he didn't know what the fuck he was doing. Frank and Maria were forever. He’d always _known_ that, but somehow seeing them in their bedroom had made it more solid than he could ever imagine. He’d never be able to touch that. He was just here as, what? Some fun? He hadn’t second guessed a thing him and Frank had been doing since their hotel stay, but now he felt like he didn’t know what was what anymore. He should have stayed in the deserts where things at least had a sense of structure he could follow.

 

“We didn't scare you off, did we?”

 

It was a testament either to Billy's nerves, or how much he let his guard down in Frank's home that he hadn't heard Maria approach.

 

He straightened his back and shut the freezer door before he flashed her a smile. “Of course not. Sorry about that.” Billy mumbled out the apology like if he got that part out quick enough, it could be ignored. “Just looking for some ice,” he lied, and they both knew it was a dumb lie, but he wasn't going to change his story.

 

“There’s nothing to apologize for, Billy. Except running off. There's a dispenser in the fridge door.”

 

“Oh. Fancy.” He didn't move, but he could hear her shuffle lightly to the cabinets and saw her take down a glass. She still only had a robe on, and when Billy turned his head just a hair he could see how it lightly hugged her body, how soft her bare thighs looked in the warm glow of the low lit kitchen. She was fucking beautiful, not that he hadn't known it. He'd just never let himself _think_ on that one. Even he knew there were just some things you didn't do about your best friend's wife. Or at least, that's what he’d thought.

 

He didn't let himself stare as she stepped closer and pressed the empty glass into his hands. It was a cliché, but their fingers touched in the action, and Billy couldn't help but want that contact to continue. He ran a long finger across the knuckle of her ring finger, breath catching in his throat when he bumped right over her wedding ring, a stark reminder of reality enough to have him draw his hand back with the cup.

 

“Thanks.”

 

Maria had followed his gaze. She was quiet when he turned around and pushed the cup into the ice dispenser, watching little cubes clink down into it. That was the thing about Frank and Maria. Both could be so quiet it was eerie sometimes. Quiet enough that it was dangerous, because that quiet usually meant they were thinking.

 

“You'll never have what we have, Billy,” Maria finally spoke, and her voice was gentle for delivering such a damn cutting blow. Jesus, she was the one who should have been the sniper.

 

He set his jaw hard, putting the glass down on the counter as he nodded “I know I'm no—”

 

“Shh, I'm not finished,” she continued. “You'll never have what we have, but _I'll_ never have _what you two have_.” Her tone was serious, her head tilted up to meet his eyes. “And maybe one day Frank won't have what _we_ have. No two people love each other the same way, and that's ok.”

 

Billy stared at her, hard. Her gaze didn't waver. Did he believe everything she was unpacking before him? He didn't know... But, god, he wanted to. “You really believe that?”

 

“I do.”

 

“Have you and Frankie...” Billy's voice trailed off. He didn't know how to ask her if they were in the business of taking in someone else, fucking them, and then breaking their heart when they found out it was just for some fun.

 

“Not like this, Billy. We wouldn't offer this to anyone else.” Maria's voice was understanding what he was saying, what he couldn't say, Jesus, she was like Frank with that, too. The perfect pair. How did they both know how to read him so well? How the hell was he supposed to fit into that?

 

Maybe it didn't matter, because Frank and Maria seemed to be hell bent on figuring it out. She was already reaching for him. No fear. Why would she? She'd already tamed a wild beast before. She was an old hand at this. She had stepped forward enough that Billy leaned back, felt himself stopped by the cool backing of the fridge, a chill up his spine, boxed in. Forget sniper, Maria should have been a military strategist, because no enemy had ever been able to back Billy into a corner.

 

He felt her lean in closer. Billy could smell the woodsy shampoo in her hair, could smell sweat cooling on her body, and he could smell Frank on her. It was more intoxicating than any shot he'd ever taken. He could get drunk on that fucking cocktail, and be a happy man. He breathed in slowly, and she seemed to take that as permission to reach up and lace her fingers behind the back of his neck. She pulled lightly, and it was clear what she wanted, but he still found himself hesitating. Lost.

 

“You didn't make me reach all the way up here for nothing, did you?” she murmured, one hand moving to fix firmly on Billy's shoulder.

 

He swallowed nervously and started to open his mouth. “We should get—”

 

“William Russo, why don't you grow some ovaries and kiss me right here like you want to? Let's figure out the rest later.” Maria smiled, and Billy snorted and then laughed with her. Yeah. Frank sure knew how to pick them. Maybe he did, too. He leaned down, his hand on her hip, the feeling of her silky robe bunching under his long fingers when he kissed her. She was right. It wasn't like his first kiss with Frank. That kiss had been dry from the desert, a little rough from desperation, sweet underneath. This, it was _their_ first kiss, though, and it was softer, sweet in its own ways. Good. He let himself be lost in it, felt her tongue dip out to trace his bottom lip in a way that made his fingers tighten a little on her hip...

 

“Hey, you really think that's fair?”

 

The sudden cold reality of Frank's voice behind them was enough to make Billy snap back like he'd held his lips to the hot barrel of his rifle. Fingers in the cookie jar, or they might have been in a few minutes if they hadn't been interrupted... “Frankie—”

 

Maria's laugh overshadowed the worry in Billy's tone as she turned in Billy's arms to face her husband. “I didn't get to see any of your first time together. It's more than fair. Ignore him, Billy.”

 

“Hey.” Frank was leaning against the door frame to the kitchen watching them, arms crossed, and Billy couldn't help but feel a little in love with the dopy, crooked grin he was casting on them both. He'd seen that look a million times, but he'd seen it directed towards Maria, and damn if he didn't feel like he was floating when he realized it was at them both.

 

“Hey yourself,” Billy retorted, not caring if it was silly. His hand slipped a little boldly around Maria to touch her stomach, long fingers slipping just past the hem of her robe until he touched down on soft skin. “You let a woman like this out of your bed... and you ain't got no right to go complaining when she finds something better...” His voice trailed off when he saw Frank's eyes.

 

The playfulness was gone. There was hunger in those eyes, for him, for a woman he'd been held back from for months. His eyes were following Billy's fingers where they rested

 

“You gonna keep touching my wife in front of me?” Frank's voice was rough, and Billy knew an absence of anger when he heard it. He knew by now what Frank's voice sounded like when he was only thinking with his dick. It was enough to heat him up more, in turn.  
  
“Maybe,” Billy challenged, and he could hear Maria's breathing shift. Her hand came up to rest on his wrist, but not to stop him. Billy suddenly wondered just how inevitable this moment in their kitchen had been. Had this been slated to happen the second Frank had sat down next to him in the mess tent in boot camp? Had it been written on the walls the first time Frank had proudly introduced him to Maria at one of their shore parties? Some things felt biblical, like a god damn religious experience, and right now his fingers wanted to shake from the powerful current he felt running through the three of them.

 

Frank pushed off the door frame, and closed the distance between them in three short paces. Billy had watched him stride across a battlefield with less intensity than he had now. He felt his cock twitch at the display. Maria breathed out and let her hand rest on her husband's chest with practiced confidence. She was trapped between them, and seemed pretty pleased with that. Billy peeked past her shoulder and watched as Frank leaned down to kiss her. He might never get tired of seeing them kiss, just like he'd never get over that little twinge of jealousy and want for them both at the same time. Those feelings twisted up together in his gut, and, honestly? It was just good to know he could _feel_ that strongly about this, about them, about anyone. That there were things he didn't have to fake. This, he'd never have to fake.

 

He watched Frank break the kiss finally, his breathing heavy. He was leaning in closer, Maria pressed more between them as Frank moved his lips to the shell of Billy's ear. His hand had made its way to Billy's hip, a familiar home for it now. It held on tight, squeezed in a way that made Billy's skin feel like it was on fire.

 

“Come to bed to do it, then. Show daddy,” Frank's voice whispered huskily against his ear, teeth scraping against his lobe and lips pressing a wet mark at the corner of his jaw. Billy's knees wanted to wobble into jello, and his dick wanted out to play immediately.

 

They scrambled to the bedroom, an unspoken race. Billy almost wheezed out a laugh when Frank playfully yanked him back from the doorframe so that he could get there first, but Maria used their competitiveness against them to dart stealthily past them both so she could take her triumphant seat on the edge of the bed.

 

“Spoils go to the victor,” she said promptly and almost primly. Maria crossed one knee over the other and her robe was well past her thighs, bunched up and pooling on the bed around her, only her crossed legs keeping her hidden from view. Billy looked over at Frank and watched the man as he leaned against the dresser, closer, almost in reach but content to be a spectator for the moment.

 

“Thought you were going to show daddy?”

 

“Yeah…” Billy licked his lips a little and tried not to let his nerves show as he nodded. They weren’t giving him any rules or structure on this, so he was just going to do what he wanted, what he thought Maria might like, and, well, if they had a problem, he’d just have to trust that they’d stop him. Trust. What a concept.

 

He dropped down onto the floor, knees hitting the carpeting. Even he knew Maria was the kind of woman that you should first approach in supplication. He reached for the cloth knot on her robe and tugged until it was finally free, and then he reached quietly to slip it from her shoulders. Good riddance. Maria was beautiful, and he was more than happy to get a good look. It had been a while since he’d seen a women that wasn’t one of the pinups the guys kept around the tents and, well, he’d always had a thing for brunettes, her and Frankie both, apparently.

 

Billy touched her thighs, and didn’t bother to keep in his wide grin when she parted them willingly for him. Her breathing was quick and she was smiling back at him, her hands touching through his hair, nails lightly scraping his scalp. God, he hoped he could fuck her, and he might just beg for it if he had to. He loved what Frank did to him, but god damn, it had been so long since he’d been able to slip inside of something. The possibility alone was a distraction, almost all he could think about as his long fingers pet over damp curls and her soft lips, stroking through slickness and realizing that the wetness he was touching was likely from both her _and_ Frank.

 

Another flash of jealousy, and he still didn’t know who he was more jealous of. Billy just knew he _wanted_. He pressed, careful, sure, feeling Maria take him smoothly, so wet that his dick ached in want. It had been a while, but he still knew his way around a pussy, and he rubbed inside of her, worked his fingers with a few slow pushes, and was rewarded with Maria’s soft moan.

 

“Frank always uses his tongue first.” Maria’s lips were at his ear, and he shivered as her breath fanned over him warmly. “He isn’t happy until he’s used his mouth. Same with you?”

 

“Always, since the first time I let him at my ass,” Billy agreed. “I’m not gonna even try to compete with that mouth. I got my own skill set,” he teased, and curled his fingers a little, grinning again when Maria gasped and he felt her body squeeze around him.

 

“God, those hands. He feels so good, baby. You feel so _good_.” She had her arms wrapped around his head now, crushing it close, and he kind of loved how greedy the action felt. He let his other hand rest against her mound, wetting his thumb with her slickness and rolling it slowly over her clit, laughing at her soft whine and feeling her smack lightly at his arm for doing it.

 

“Hey, hey, I told you I aim to please.”

 

“Mhm, Then aim a little _higher.”_

 

“Oh, a challenge, huh?” Billy breathed out, delight in his tone that he didn’t try to hide as he pressed higher, listening to Maria sigh as she shifted on the bed, lips parted as she rode his fingers greedily. He heard footsteps behind him, and Frank was kneeling behind him. Apparently he could only resist the party for so long, because his lips were suddenly kissing up Billy’s spine, and between that and Maria’s hands sifting through his hair, he was feeling pretty damn cherished.

 

“God damn, look at you two, baby boy,” Frank whispered behind his ear, his thick nose tucking behind it as his tongue pressed against the hollow just under his lobe, sending a shiver down his entire body. “You have no idea what the two of you do to me.”

 

“So tell us,” Maria challenged, her voice laced with heavy pleasure, her hips twitching in little jerks towards Billy’s thumb that told him she was getting close to coming on his hand.

 

“I-I got no words, Maria…”

 

“Try. Shouldn’t he try, Billy?”

 

Billy nodded, nuzzling Maria’s breast in the process. He’d just been about to contemplate how he was going to attack both of them at once with his hands full, but this he _needed_ to hear. “Yeah, come on. That’s the deal, isn’t it?” he asked a little boldly. “Telling us what we need to hear?”

 

Frank’s teeth bit down sharply on the back of his neck, and Billy jolted, groaning louder than he meant to. “Oh, fuck—” he swore, and Frank’s hand was on his hip, the grip _bruising_ and perfect.

 

“It’s like seeing my two worlds come together, Maria, Billy… There’s nothing… There’s nothing I could want more than this. This is everything, it’s _everything,_ ” Frank whispered, and Billy felt those words as deeply as he heard them.

 

“It’s home,” Maria agreed, and her hands were on Billy’s wrists, stilling his movements so he had no choice but to look up into her eyes and focus on that, instead. Billy’s tongue was frozen to the roof of his mouth, his lips were fucking sealed and he didn’t know how to open them back up, but he found himself nodding desperately in an agreement that he couldn’t for the life of him verbalize, but needing them to know that he agreed. That he had never wanted so badly to be a part of something.

 

“It’s ok.” Maria touched his cheek, leaning in to press her lips against his forehead. “Come on, up here with me.” She pulled on his arm, and he scrambled. His pants were off, half his, half Frank’s hands, and he was climbing over her. Her legs trapped him, and he only hesitated for a second.

 

“Do I need, uh…”

 

Maria laughed and pulled him down for a kiss. “Birth control. Believe me, without it, Frank would be coming home to another baby after every rotation.” Billy laughed with her. He believed it. Frank was an animal, big shock he was fertile as one.

 

“Ok, ok.” He relaxed and watched her, just watched the pleasure on her face as he entered her, knew it was written all over his own damn face, in turn. Frank’s hands were on him, on her, touching down his back, rubbing her breasts. He was kissing them both like he couldn’t touch them enough, like he had to make them _feel_ how hopelessly in love with them both he was.

 

Billy gave into all of that, he kissed Maria when he could, watched Frank reach between them, his thick fingers touching where they joined. Billy could feel him with every stroke inside of her, and he shuddered at the connection between them.

 

Maria’s hands rubbed down his back. “Come on, come on, sweetheart,” she whispered in encouragement, and that was a nickname no one else in the world would dare to grant him, but from Maria’s lips, it felt genuine. It felt like he could live up to that endearment, here, or at least he could die trying to uphold it. He cried out when he felt her walls clamping down on him, as greedy as he felt. He pushed deeper, his orgasm rushing through him when he felt her riding her own out under him, shaking and laughing breathlessly, swatting Frank’s hands when his touch became too much.

 

“Enough, enough, you’ll kill us both,” she gasped when Frank’s hand came dangerously close to her clit and forced another aftershock through her body that Billy felt in her thighs around him. He laughed when he separated from her, running his hands through his own wrecked hair.

 

“Yeah, what a way to go, though, huh?”

 

“Oh, don’t encourage him.” Maria laughed and curled up on her side towards Frank, taking his hand and kissing it before she sighed deeply. “Let’s get used to that.”

 

“Sure.” Frank was smiling down at her, goofy and lovesick, and Billy had never understood it more. He looked at them and felt his heart twisting around in his chest, and god damn it, he was going to turn into some lovesick idiot like his man, like their man. He got up, instead, and went to clean up a little, studying himself quietly in the mirror before bringing back a damp washcloth for Maria to do the same.

 

“So I can—”

 

“If you’re even thinking of trying to say you’ll take the couch, quit it,” Frank ordered, and Billy bit his tongue.

 

“Maybe I just don’t want to feel you drooling on me, for once. Every morning, Maria, separate cots but somehow his drool gets on me.” Billy whined a little. “How do you do it? Wash cloths? Towel over his face? Share your secrets.”

 

“Shut up.” Frank was laughing, and he grabbed Billy’s hand, pulling him until he was falling into bed with them again. They swarmed him like a pool of piranhas. No mercy. Their arms were over him, Maria’s leg hooked over his own, Frank’s nose tucked over his shoulder. He was out in seconds, there was no hope or point in even trying to fight it. He was sawing wood in their ears almost before his head hit the pillow.

 

The next morning, Billy woke up before them, the sun shining, and despite the pretty sunrise he was tense in the bed. He waited to be booted out of it, even _knowing_ it wouldn't be coming. There were some scars from his past that ran too deep. He trusted this pair more than anyone else on god's green earth, and still when Maria's hand sleepily brushed past his shoulder, he flinched. Too much prolonged intimacy. He rarely got this with Frank, save for a few precious moments. All of their contact had been intense but brief. His skin itched. Was it always going to be like this? Was he always going to try to push away after they gave him everything?

 

Maybe it didn’t matter, because he wasn’t in the bed when they woke up, but Frank was there to kiss his freshly shaved cheek when he shuffled sleepily into the bathroom behind him. Maria’s hands took his in the living room, and she pulled him into the kitchen insisting that he be the one to make the pancakes because the kids liked his best. His pulling away didn’t matter, his fear didn’t matter, because they saw it, and they overcame it _with_ him. One unit. One family.

 

 

 


End file.
